Vitals

Background

Recently, I covered Butch Cassidy’s attire while in Bolivia. Exactly 100 years later, James Bond was wreaking havoc on the country in Quantum of Solace. Of course, real Bond fans know that the film’s version of “Bolivia” was actually filmed in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Some have complained about Bond wearing jeans for these scenes, but it’s actually very utilitarian and – come on already, people – this was 2008, not 1958. With some jeans costing thousands of dollars, albeit impractically, denim has come a long way from being the domain of the laborer.

What’d He Wear?

This is the first time we see Craig’s Bond dressing intentionally for a showdown. Naturally, since he is not Pierce Brosnan, he opts for more casual attire than a tailored suit. In Casino Royale, we saw some great casual outfits including his dark polo in the Bahamas and his blue long-sleeve polo in Venice, but those were both for relaxing situations (or, in Venice’s case, what he thought would be a relaxing day).

Here, we again see Craig’s preference for dark blue polo shirts, but matched with a pair of jeans and a dark navy zip-up jacket that has become very popular with fans.

The jacket, designed by Tom Ford who created most of Craig’s Quantum of Solace wardrobe, was inspired by Baracuta’s G4 Harrington nylon jacket. The popularity of the Quantum jacket has led to the relaunching of the Baracuta brand in 2013, with Harringtons again available from Baracuta. Like the G4, Bond’s cotton Tom Ford jacket has a button-adjusted waistband and button-fastened slash pockets. The jacket zips up the front to an extended tab on the collar, which fastens with a button. The jacket also has cuffs that fasten with a buttoned tab.

Dan’s jacket, a crowd favorite, in various conditions.

His navy blue polo here is similar to the Sunspel polo worn in the Bahamas in Casino Royale, but this example is naturally by Tom Ford. Like the other, it has short sleeves, 2 dark buttons on the placket, and a chest pocket.

Dan runs, jacket off, sunglasses on, P226 in hand. If you’re wondering why you missed this in the film, you didn’t. This is a production photo.

Well, you probably never thought you’d see it, but James Bond wears jeans! Traditionalists are shitting themselves, while more progressive fans realize this is a natural step for a non-Pierce Brosnan Bond in a casual action situation. Jeans are actually a Flemingesque touch, as he had outfitted Bond in black jeans in Dr. No and brown jeans in “For Your Eyes Only”, although never blue jeans. Bond’s great-looking denim jeans are from the Los Angeles company 7 For All Mankind, which was formed in the fall of 2000. Bond’s jeans rise to his waist with a zip fly and are worn with a black Saffiano cross-hatch leather belt with a squared silver clasp. The belt was made by Prada, because of course, and it originally cost $270.

Bond’s bootcut jeans, colored in the dark blue “Mercer” wash, are still available on 7FAM’s website for $174. Unfortunately, the middle-of-the-road sizes 30-34 are out of stock, so if you’re on the slim or larger side, you’re in luck. I am a 32-33, so alas, I can never fulfill my dream of owning James Bond’s jeans. The jeans run small, as 7FAM advises, as they are 98% cotton and 2% Spandex. For those interested in saving money (especially if you’re on the slimmer side), the “Mercer” wash is also available in the straight leg jeans. Even for an athletic type like Bond, though, these would be too restrictive for someone who has to be running and jumping through a desert hotel.

I understand enforcing the no black/brown mixing policy, but hitting someone with a car for it is pretty extreme.

Craig keeps his usual casual footwear consistent, wearing a pair of brown suede Church’s Ryder III desert boots with Dainite® studded rubber soles for extra traction while doing a shit-ton more stunts than any normal person will ever have to do. James Bond Lifestyle features a great breakdown of these shoes, which he wears with a pair of black ribbed socks.

If you’re looking to stick with the Baracuta theme established by the jacket, Baracuta makes their own dark brown nubuck leather desert boots, which can be found here for the reasonable price of $74.93 (at the time of this writing). Like the Ryders, the Baracuta boots have two eyelets, but they lack the signature studded rubber soles.

While prepping further in the desert with Camille, Bond also wears his pair of Tom Ford TF108 aviator sunglasses, also seen on James Bond Lifestyle, with smoke blue Italian handmade 19V lenses and black temple tips on the semi matte rhodium frame. Bond also wore these earlier when visiting Mathis’ villa in Italy.

Since this is Daniel Craig, we are again treated to a beautiful Omega watch, this one a stainless Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer. The case has a diameter of 42 millmeters. This is slightly more formal than the Casino Royale Planet Ocean, as it has a stainless bracelet and a black dial.

Omega: The Official Watch of MI6.

As I mentioned in the cardigan article from Quantum, this watch was auctioned by Christie’s for £34,850 last year with all proceeds going to Unicef. Bond’s accessories – his watch, sunglasses, and boots – are all the same as he wore in that scene, actually.

What to Imbibe

The “Cervecita” beer that Bond drinks with Felix is a fictional label, as “cervecita” is just the Spanish word for a small beer. Since this was Bolivia, Bond and Felix would likely be indulging in a local brew, such as the popular Cerveza Paceña made by Huari, a very tasty South American beer if you ever find yourself in La Paz.

This is like the Spanish version of those after-school PSAs where you would see teens drinking a beer clearly labeled “BEER”.

Iconic Alternatives has a great rundown of affordable options to channel elements of this and many other 007 outfits.

The Gun

Bond attacks the hotel with a SIG-Sauer P226 he lifted from a fellow agent. Offered in 9×19 mm Parabellum, .357 SIG, and .40 S&W, the P226 has joined the ranks of the Beretta 92FS and the M1911A1 as one of the more venerable and commonly used pistols in world police and military arsenals. Evidently, it is one of the primary handguns for MI6 agents as it was also used earlier in the film by traitorous agent Craig Mitchell.

Look familiar? You’ve probably seen the P226 in most action movies made since 1990.

But I’m not going to talk about the P226 today. (At least not more than I have already.)

After fighting his way to save Camille in General Medrano’s room, Bond gets his hand on the general’s personal handgun, an ornate SIG P210 with gold inlayed engraving found on all P210s that were part of the 500 made for 50 Years Special Edition in 1999 to celebrate the pistol’s fifty years of service as the “P49” for the Swiss Army.

The “50 Years” commemorative edition of the SIG P210, as taken by Bond from Medrano’s room.

Originally manufactured by SIG Arms AG, which eventually became SIG-Sauer, the P210 is a short recoil operated semi-automatic pistol with a single-action locked-breech design. The 8-round magazine typically carries 9×19 mm Parabellum ammunition, as the example in the film does, with early variants also made in .30 Luger (7.65×21 mm Parabellum) and another variant, the P210-7, even chambered in .22 LR.

In 1937, SIG acquired a license for Charles Petter’s system and, based on Petter’s French Mle. 1935A pistol, developed a weapon to replace the Luger, which had been in service since 1900. The prototype of the P210 was the SIG 44/16, developed in 1944 with a 16-round magazine (Oh, so that’s how they came up with that…) After testing various models after the war, the P210 was introduced to the world in 1949. It was made continuously until 2005, by which time it was made by Swiss Arms AG, the company formerly known as SIG Arms AG. Throughout its life, the standard P210 had a 8.5″ inch overall length with a 4.7″ barrel, much like most standard full-size combat pistols, although the sports variant (P210-5) has an extended barrel that measures 150 mm, rather than the standard 120 mm barrel.

Medrano, supposed to be a rogue Bolivian military officer, certainly wouldn’t have been in the Swiss Army, but it is likely that his deluxe P210 is a gift from a fellow military colleague. Also, the filmmakers probably thought, “Damn, this gun would look badass in Bond’s hands.” They were correct.

So badass, in fact, that they used a behind-the-scenes photo of Dan playing with the P210 as the cover for the game James Bond: Blood Stone!

Do Yourself a Favor and…

The Quote

Take a deep breath, you only got one shot, make it count.

Footnotes

Thanks to James Bond Lifestyle and Matt Spaiser’s The Suits of James Bond for filling in the gaps of info needed and confirming styles and brands. These two invaluable resources should be on the bookmarks bar for any Bond fan!

Also, unrelated note, but today is my grandma’s 92nd birthday. She still finds time to work every day and cook family dinners on the weekends. Happy birthday, Grandma!

16 comments

You have no idea how refreshing it was to me when I found out that DC would be wearing a 42mm Planet Ocean in “QoS”. I got my Planet Ocean in 2005 because it was A) an Omega and B) a great looking dive watch that had numerous design elements from the DNA of Omegas of the 1960s. AND it couldn’t be mistaken for a Rolex Submariner.
But it was a buzz to learn that, after a lifetime of hankering after various Bond accoutrements, 007 finally copied ME for a change. Personally, I think Daniel Craig may have had some input in the choice of Bond’s wristwatch for this film. The large watch craze was in full swing by 2007, so it would have been logical for Bond to stick with the larger 45.5mm Planet Ocean model he wore in “Casino Royale”, except maybe put it on a bracelet rather than the rubber strap, as worn in that film. Daniel Craig is known to have quite a few vintage Rolex sports watches and it wouldn’t surprise me if he said; “I’d like to wear a smaller watch for the next film.”
Given his height and build, I think the 42mm model was a better fit. But what do I know? I only sold wristwatches for twelve years.
P.S.- the face and the dial are the same thing. The bezel is the ring on the outside of the case that can be rotated (usually unidirectionally).

As for his jacket in that final section in Bolivia, it reminds me of Indiana Jones’s leather jacket in that it seems the wrong choice for such a hot climate. Harrison Ford was know to complain about how hot he got wearing that jacket on location.
It would have been interesting to see DC dressed up a little more ‘combat-style’ like Brosnan at the end of “Goldeneye”, but I figured that Bond was working with what he had in his own luggage rather than being kitted out by headquarters.
And no, I have no problem with Bond wearing jeans. The Roger Moore era where Bond did everything (almost) while wearing a suit always came across as bad planning on either Bond’s or the wardrobe department’s part.

More importantly than all of my rambling above, Happy Birthday to your grandmother! Ninety-two. Now that’s a life lived! And most of it in a cooler century too.

The Planet Ocean is a very timeless (pun?) looking dive watch and certainly on my list of aspirations! The trend is certainly going in the right way; from what I understand, Bond 24 will be very Teeritz-influenced. Expect a call very soon from Daniel Craig about what watch he should wear for fighting villains down in Kingston. With Craig’s sense of class, I’m sure he definitely has input into what he wears in the films, as you suggest.

While I think the Bolivian look here is cool, you raise an excellent point with suggesting how warm it would be! I’m not sure what all Bond had as options (in the world of the film, at least), but he changes out of his dirty suit sometime before meeting with Felix in the bar, so he must have been able to get clothes somewhere. I guess this was more a case of filmmakers wanting him to be cool in a sartorial, rather than comfortable, sense. I need to revisit GoldenEye (there’s no Brosnan on this blog yet, which is unfortunate), but I remember his attack gear at the end being a very climate-appropriate military look. It certainly would have worked well here, like you say, since Bond didn’t have to dress to look normal in public; his goal here was just to infiltrate and kill.

On behalf of Bond himself, thanks for the jeans support. Roger certainly looked sharp in a suit, but those suits had a time and place and it wasn’t while landing a plane on a south Asian island or hang-gliding over the Caribbean. They sort of got it later on, outfitting him in some era-friendly blouson jackets, but seeing a suit where Fleming’s Bond would’ve never worn one is very distracting!

And now I must ask what came first – your watch expertise or your experience selling them? You’re my “word of god” when it comes to watches on this blog; if you say it, I write it!

Regarding Brosnan’s wardrobe, I liked the look he was rockin’ in the pre-credits sequence of “Tomorrow Never Dies”, too. And Brosnan played Bond quite pathological in that sequence too.

And I’m happy to support denim. I’m only a 501s guy myself (although Lucky Brand make awesome denim too). Can’t understand paying three or four hundred bucks for jeans, though. But I haven’t tried selvedge denim yet.
Thanks for the compliments. You’re my Armourer when it comes to my fiction. I’ll get in touch when the time comes.

You have a mind-blowing collection! Omega is missing an opportunity but not hiring you as a permanent spokesman, as I’d never realized the beautiful variety of watches they’ve offered in the last sixty-odd years. Amazing how a watch can evoke a time and place… the watches from ’51 and ’52 remind me very much of my grandfather’s watch, a Bulova that I’ll need to get some photos of to show you.

Personally, my “collection” consists of very few watches because – and forgive me – the first nineteen years of my life were spent thinking “A digital watch is much easier to just check and see the time.” Feel like cringing even more? Velcro straps. I can’t explain it now, but around 2008 I think I was watching Bond and finally decided, “what the hell is this thing doing on my wrist?” By then, I’d graduated to digitals with a metal bracelet, but still. That very night, I went digging in my old watch drawer and found an old mixed metal Rolex Submariner that I had purchased in Battery Park in New York City in February 2005. For all those listening, that watch was as fake as a McDonald’s hamburger. But, like a McDonald’s hamburger, I grew to love it and wore it everyday. I led no one astray, explaining the origins of the watch and my shock that it didn’t say FOLEX or RPLEX, although the JAPAN MOVT mark was made clear enough. I had a few links removed (the reason I had never worn it in the first place) and it actually looked surprisingly good.

I eventually received a nice silver-toned Peugeot watch with a blue face that took over once the “Rolex” met its untimely and unintended end against a bed post. However, I still wanted an everyday watch – leather band, silver, black face – that I could wear with both earth tones and blacks/grays. For Christmas last year, my wonderful girlfriend surprised me with a Victorinox Swiss Army Infantry with a brown leather strap and stainless case. It’s rugged, reliable, and has the exact “fashionable military” look I wanted.

Wow – didn’t mean to go on like that! To address the rest, I’ll be getting into Brosnan gear soon, although I’m not sure what’s taking me so long. Bond in jeans makes sense to me, as well. I love 501s and also – if you’re ever looking – my daily pair is a “Relaxed Fit” from Banana Republic. They’re the most comfortable, they can be dressed up or down, they fit excellent with or without a belt, and they conceal well on days that I’m carrying. As always, great to hear from you!

First off I would like to say great blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you do not mind.
I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing.

I’ve had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out there.
I do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes
are generally wasted simply just trying to figure out how to
begin. Any suggestions or hints? Cheers!

Actually, the jacket is not out of place in Chile’s Atacama desert, actually a high plateau with an average elevation of over 1500 meters, and the outlying high desert areas of Western Bolivia as temperatures are rather low in this high desert environment with summer daytime highs hovering around 19°C or less and with nights and winter temps much colder. Also, La Paz ,the capitol of Bolivia is situated at nearly 12,000 ft. and features a temperate climate in which this jacket would not be out of place.

I think that those of us from northern latitudes tend to think of the climate in the tropics as being uniformly on the hot side but in actuality there exists great variation in temperatures within the tropics depending upon a host of complex geographic and climatic conditions.

Case in point, I once invited a friend from Eastern Europe working in the US on an two day early spring excursion to the high desert (Mojave) of California. The night time temps in the Mojave during that time of year can approach freezing but all that my friend brought along in way of an outer garment was a light cotton windbreaker. He was under the mistaken impression that all deserts are hot. Fortunately for him I had thought to bring along some extra jackets, gloves, and such, and also fortunate that we wear the same size garments or he would have been in trouble.